


Our Peaceful Days

by Space_Kitten_from_Planet_Pheromone



Category: Saiyuki
Genre: Baby Goku growing up, Back to the time when Sanzo wasn't as grumpy as he is in present time, Fluff, M/M, Pre-Journey Sanzo and Goku, lots of fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-21
Updated: 2017-03-31
Packaged: 2018-10-08 22:28:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 39
Words: 17,039
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10397589
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Space_Kitten_from_Planet_Pheromone/pseuds/Space_Kitten_from_Planet_Pheromone
Summary: Thirty-nine prompts for the 39 pairing. Six years before the Journey started, Sanzo does his begrudging best at keeping his newfound pet properly fed and taken care of, and little Goku tries his eager best at making his newfound owner happy.





	1. Ponytails

**Author's Note:**

> Will be divided into 39 chapters so y’all readers won’t get tired scrolling to the parts/prompts you like if you plan to reread it. Fluff. Fluff everywhere.

* * *

_"If a demon were to steal after you into your loneliest loneliness and say to you, ‘This life as you now live it and have lived it, you will have to live once more and innumerable times more.’ Would you not throw yourself down and gnash your teeth and curse the demon who spoke thus? Or have you once experienced a tremendous moment when you would have answered him, 'You are a god and never have I heard anything more divine_ _?'"_ ― **Friedrich Nietzsche**

* * *

 

-

**I. _Ponytails_**

-

“Sanzo, are you done yet?” Goku asks as he twiddles his toes. The morning sun is bright today, and he can’t wait to go play in the garden. He waves his feet left and right on the edge of the bed, giggling as the slightest brush of a finger tickles his nape. Behind him, Sanzo clicks his tongue and curls his fingers as he twines a long ribbon around Goku’s long hair.

“Not yet. Stay still.”

“But I am staying still,” Goku giggles, and in doing so, his shoulders shake, and the ribbon around his hair falls to Sanzo’s lap once more. “…Oops. Um. Sorry.”

The monk sighs, picks up the ribbon, and tries again. He has been trying to tie it around the too slippery hair, and when his paper-thin patience has finally paid off at around an hour, the white ribbon finally wounds and latches tightly around the thick and smooth hair. Sanzo admires it with a nod and a ghost of a smile—he slips his fingertips under the hickory locks, curls them around his digits, and combs them with his fingers.

Sanzo closes his eyes as his lips part and touch the ends of Goku’s hair—

“It’s done.”

Goku slides out of the bed and towards the small mirror on the bedside table, and squeals as he turns his head this way and that, spinning and grinning at the sight and feel of his low ponytail.

He bounces back to the bed, pouncing on Sanzo with a tight hug and squeals out his thanks, rubbing his face to the monk’s—

Sanzo tries to yell at the jovial child, but denies himself of the want as Goku looks up at him with a wide smile and flushed cheeks.


	2. Robes

-

**II. _Robes_**

-

“Goku. You’re wearing my robes again.”

The little child jolts and turns around, and forgets the beauty of the gleaming moon. Behind him, Sanzo stands dressed in jeans and his singlet, his arms exposed for the first time in a while. Grinning, Goku flops his arms about, laughing at the way the sleeves of the robes dangle loose from his hands.

“But your robes are warm and comfortable! See?” He hides his smile behind one of the sleeves, chortling behind coy lashes, and Sanzo tuts, sits beside him, and smokes a cigarette. Goku shifts closer on instinct, his eyes hypnotized by the lazy smoke hanging in the air.

Sanzo gives him a sidelong glance, and hums when the robes slip from one tanned shoulder. Moonlight catches the soft expanse of skin, and Sanzo’s breath hitches in his throat when he realizes Goku has nothing underneath.

Goku notices the butt of the cigarette glowing red, its ash falling to the grass beneath Sanzo’s feet. He also notes the way Sanzo’s fingers twitch and tremble as he takes another drag, and Goku’s lips part. “Are you cold? I’ll give it back if you want—”

“No,” Sanzo whispers, “stay like that.”

Goku nods and moves closer to the man, their bare shoulders brushing under the quiet moon.


	3. Attention

-

**III. _Attention_**

-

Goku huffs as he tries and fails to clamber behind Sanzo’s chair. He flails his arms up and about, trying to catch Sanzo’s eye. The latter ignores him as he dips his brush in the ink bottle as he writes another document.

Sanzo’s lips quirk upwards as the brush glides on the paper, all the while trying to ignore the small ruckus behind him. He lets out an inward sigh as Goku struggles on trying to get his attention. He almost clicks his tongue as a slope of the ink on the brush goes out of line from his otherwise impeccable writing. He dips the brush in the bottle again, taps it twice, and writes once more.

The monk feels two small hands on his left thigh, and Sanzo curses as Goku climbs and sits between his legs—and finally, _finally_ manages to steer Sanzo away from his work. Sanzo grumbles and tuts, as he yells and tries to get the child away from his seat—but Goku refuses to budge from his place, and his golden eyes widen at the odd scribbles on the paper.

“What are those squiggles?” he asks, and Sanzo cocks his head, trying to peer behind the too thick, disarrayed hair.

“That’s a letter. The squiggles are characters. You don’t know how to read and write?”

Goku shakes his head, and Sanzo sighs.

Taking Goku’s right hand, Sanzo guides him to the brush, his hold on the small hand being light yet firm, and they hover the inked bristles on a blank paper.

Together, they carefully write and read Goku’s name.


	4. Curiosity

-

**IV. _Curiosity_**

-

“Sanzo?”

“Hm?”

“Why are the other priests looking at me like they hate me?”

Sanzo blows out the last drag of his cigarette and stomps it on the grass. He takes a quick look around, and notes that indeed, some of the monks and even the novices are giving Goku a snide glare and quick, harsh whispers behind their bony fingers. Sanzo snorts, and gives the priests a glare of his own.

The monks and novices are quick to return to their jobs under the watchful glower—sweeping the fallen leaves, wiping the floors, washing the laundry—

Sanzo looks down at a blinking Goku, then at their clasped hands, and they walk down the temple garden. He gives the monks one final, backward glare, and leads his little charge to the peach tree that Goku loves.

“Silly monkey. No one here will dare to hate you.”


	5. Sacrifice

-

**V. _Sacrifice_**

-

At the dinner table, Goku finishes his last scoop of rice and last mouthfuls of fish with a wide grin. He catches the cook’s eye from near the door, and winces upon seeing a disapproving frown there. He casts his gaze to the lone figure at the head of the table, where Sanzo eats with his eyes closed, taking bits of fish and rice to his mouth. He takes one more bite and places the chopsticks on the bowl.

Patting a napkin to his mouth, Sanzo notices Goku staring at him. “Are you full?” And Goku nods, smiling a tad too wide—

—the child’s stomach grumbles, and Sanzo rumbles low in his throat.

“Here,” he says, pushing the barely touched plate towards the astonished little demon, “I’m done.”

Goku beams wide, and frowns when he sees the bowl of rice has been barely eaten. He looks at Sanzo, who is now drinking a cup of his favorite green tea, “Sanzo, are you sure? You didn’t even eat half of your rice and fish.”

Sanzo snorts as he places the cup back on the table, “Quite sure. Eat it.”

Goku nods, hesitant, at first. The uncertainty in his eyes makes Sanzo shift in his seat, and he stands up to leave.

“Finish everything,” Sanzo says in a quiet voice, patting Goku’s head as he passes him by.

Later that evening, Goku peers inside Sanzo’s room, knocks on the door once, and enters with a plump peach in hand. Sanzo sits on the window sill as he gazes at the moon. In between his fingers, he holds a can of beer.

“Sanzo?” Goku calls out in a hushed tone, his head slightly lowered as he offers him the peach. “Here, take this,” he stutters out as he shuts his eyes close—

“Why?”

This time, Goku peeks and, upon seeing the quiet curiosity in Sanzo’s face, lowers his head once more. “The cooks said the rations are running low and you haven’t been eating well because of me. Because you’re giving your food to me even if you really want to eat and I’m sorry and please eat this peach!”

“Why a peach?”

“Eh? Um. I read that it’s supposed to give you a long life and I don’t want you to die because of not eating because of me.”

Sanzo blinks, looks at the plump and ripe peach, then back at the wide-eyed child. The monk huffs, “You have gone longer on being hungry than I have. You should eat more.”

“But I can’t eat more if it means that you have to stop eating because of me. Please eat,” Goku pleads, prodding the fruit closer to Sanzo’s lips.

A thought crosses Sanzo’s mind, and he smirks at the child. Threading his fingers on Goku’s hair, he leans closer to the boy—

—Sanzo’s breath tickles Goku’s ears, and on instinct, he closes his eyes as he feels Sanzo’s lips curling to a smile.

Their stomachs grumble as one, and Sanzo holds Goku’s hand, the touch light, yet warm.

“In that case, why don’t we eat it together, then?”


	6. Kiss

-

**VI. _Kiss_**

-

When Sanzo has taken Goku to the marketplace on a daily stroll, he knows the curious little monkey will ask a stream of questions.

The little monkey has taken a habit in the form of sneaking into Sanzo’s office in midday and climbing on his lap whenever he works, the little monkey has also taken up pecking Sanzo on the cheek as a daily greeting.

Sanzo had seen how people kiss over the years. During his days as a novice when he had been standing under the sun and rain for alms, he had seen mothers and fathers pecking each other on the cheeks and the lips, the brothers and sisters a quick smack on the cheeks, the lovers greeting each other with a kiss on the forehead—

But the thing is, he has never once understood why they do it.

So when Goku does it to him for a few days, Sanzo grows irate and asks Goku why he has ended up with doing such a thing.

“One lady selling meat buns told me people do it to the people they like. And I like you, so there!”

He says it so simply with his arms stretched wide, his smile blinding the room with its radiance.

Nevertheless, Sanzo scoffs, “That is the most foolish explanation I have ever heard.”

And yet, when night comes in Keiun Temple, when Goku has fallen asleep next to Sanzo’s room, the monk steps inside, looks at Goku’s sleeping face, and remembers the different forms of affection he has seen between people—

—and ever since he has heard of Goku’s explanation, Sanzo has been bidding Goku goodnight in secret, with a quiet kiss to the forehead and lips.

Goku has come to know of this over time, and reciprocates by returning Sanzo’s kisses in the afternoon, behind the closed doors of Sanzo’s office.


	7. Animals

-

**VII. _Animals_**

-

Despite the monks’ and acolytes’ pleas to Sanzo about getting rid of the puppy Goku has taken, Sanzo had ignored them all with a pinky stuck to his ear. On days like this, Sanzo prefers to order them to leave him alone. The blond is not one to abuse his power as the highest-ranking monk, but there are times when he just wants to order them all to die if it will mean he can finally get some peace.

“Sanzo!”

The aforementioned sighs a stream of smoke. “There goes my peace—”

Goku whoops out Sanzo’s name on repeat as he runs towards the monk leaning against a tree. He grins as he holds out the puppy that has become the bane of the temple’s existence. “The puppy learned to fetch!”

Sanzo says nothing, except for a small hum that Goku takes as a sign of interest.

Goku takes a fallen branch on the ground, and throws it to a distance. “Get it, puppy, come on! Come on! ...argh, why won’t you do it? You did it earlier!” Behind him, Sanzo snorts, and Goku puffs his cheeks at the panting puppy, its mouth almost curled into a happy smile. “Come now, puppy, don’t embarrass me in front of Sanzo. Do your thing! Come—oh, Sanzo, stop laughing!” Goku pouts, stomps his feet, and runs to where the branch is.

All the while, Sanzo keeps his laughter at a minimum, his shoulders shaking with each breath, and his hand covering his mouth splitting into bubbling spurts of mirth.

“Telling the dog to fetch when the monkey himself fetches it—such a silly monkey, indeed...!”


	8. Baths

-

**VIII. _Baths_**

-

“Goku, how many times do I have to tell you to stop playing and splashing all the water in the tub?!”

Goku laughs even more upon hearing the reprimand. He flaps his limbs around, makes bubbles in the water with his mouth, and dips his entire head in the water, only to emerge and wave his arms about—

“Sanzo, I’m a ghost!”

“Monkey, you will be if you don’t cut that out!”

The impish child giggles, swipes his hair from his face, and drags a fully clothed Sanzo with him in the water. The monk sputters, and when he comes out of the water, all of his blond hair plasters his face—and Goku guffaws.

“Now we can be ghosts together, haha!”

Sanzo spouts a stream of water to Goku’s face, dunks the laughing child’s head—

“Don’t be so quick to kill me off, idiot!”

Unaware of his actions, Sanzo ends up roughhousing with Goku, the two of them splashing water all around.


	9. Sleep

-

**IX. _Sleep_**

-

Sanzo has come to get used to the notion that the little monkey child will always sneak inside his room just to sleep by his side. He shrugs it off. That seems fine, as long as Goku knows his side of the bed.

By the way Goku hogs up all the space on the bed, even going as far as to take some of the sheets every time he turns over, Sanzo gets closer to throwing the little demon out every night—

Sanzo clicks his tongue in the dark, craning his neck as he tries to look at where Goku struggles on trying to get under the tangled sheets. He growls, his voice still laden with sleep, “Goku, goddamn it, get back to your room—”

“But I’m cold.”

“Then go to the kitchen’s fireplace,” Sanzo mutters with a tut. His following words of further reprimand are cut when he feels Goku’s arm and leg drape over him like Sanzo’s a human pillow. Sanzo curses him off, but Goku refuses to budge, and further buries his face on the monk’s neck.

Sanzo’s nose twitches at each prod of Goku’s hair tickling his nostrils, and he tries snorting them away, only for Goku to giggle and rub his face on the man.

Sanzo gives up trying to shove Goku off when he feels a familiar pair of lips brush against his. The man clicks his tongue out of irritation—not embarrassment, he denies to himself—

Sanzo soon falls asleep—and when morning comes, he wakes up to find his lips a hair’s breadth away from Goku’s brow.


	10. Book

-

**X. _Book_**

-

The bristles running down Goku’s long hair soothe his scalp, and all the while, he listens to the even breathing behind him, and smiles to himself at the feel of the calloused hands tickling his ear.

His eyelids flutter with each brush, its sensation calming Goku as Sanzo occasionally hums and detangles some parts of the thick hair.

Goku soon yawns, and he hears Sanzo hum once more—

“Sleepy yet, Monkey?”

Goku shakes his head, but nods soon as Sanzo presses the bristles of the brush and slides it down Goku’s scalp in slow, heavy strokes. He sighs on instinct, and hears Sanzo snort—but to Goku, that’s as close to a laugh as he can get.

“How about now?” Sanzo mutters, all traces of mirth hidden behind the soft rumble of his voice.

Goku’s shoulders shake as he bites his lip, muffling his giggle as the hairbrush tickles his nape. “Kind of,” he breathes, a breath of a laugh escaping his lips. He leans back to the blond, who still keeps brushing his hair even though they know well that the brown locks are now tangle-free.

Sanzo keeps doing it—brushing the soft hair to complete smoothness—and when he hears Goku’s inaudible snores, Sanzo stops, places the hairbrush on the bed, and holds Goku close.

“Ah,” Sanzo whispers, smirking at the sleeping child, “now I can do what I want.”

Long, pale fingers pick up the discarded book on the pillow, and he lies back on the headboard, and reads to a sleeping Goku in undertone.


	11. Hands

-

**XI. _Hands_**

-

Goku’s lips purse and his brows furrow as he stares at Sanzo reading the daily newspaper.

“What?” the monk asks without even looking up from the paper.

“Sanzo, show me something.”

A page turns, and Goku waits for a response. He can still only see the top of the man’s blond hair, and hears no grunt of a reply. He tries again, “Sanzo, show it to me.”

The paper lowers by a few inches, enough for Sanzo to peer at Goku with a skeptic glare, “Show you what?”

Goku pouts, marches over to a guarded Sanzo, and yanks the newspaper out of the way. Ignoring Sanzo’s spew of profanities, Goku takes Sanzo’s hands in his, inspecting every visible line and curve through the black, fingerless gloves.

“What are you looking at, you idiot?” Sanzo growls out, and Goku ignores him still, and he observes the child as his hands were inspected under small, soft ones—

“The monks said you’re a cold person, but your hands are like, really, really warm!”

Sanzo pauses mid-reprimand, and mulls over Goku’s words. And then, “I’m quite sure that’s not literal—”

“Here, Sanzo, feel them, too!” Goku cheers, beaming as he sits on the desk and plants his small hands on Sanzo’s cheeks. “They’re warm, too, right? So that means you’re not a cold person!”

Sanzo takes in a breath, ready to chide the boy about his misunderstanding of the words, but he lets him be when Goku’s attention returns to his hands once more, staring at every curve and line and jutting knuckles and trimmed nails—

Goku passes his fingertip over the palms, his touch light and slow, and as he passes by the middle of the palm, Sanzo jerks back his hands, clutching them beneath the desk. Golden eyes look up with curiosity, and see Sanzo looking quite flushed.

“Are you ticklish there, too?”

Sanzo hits Goku with the fan, stands up, and marches from out of the room without a word—

—Goku giggles, and runs after the flustered monk. He clasps his hand to Sanzo’s warm palm, and thinks that the monks have been lying to him for all this time.


	12. Prayer

-

**XII. _Prayer_**

-

Goku likes to peek into the rooms of the temple. Curious as he is, he tries not to attract too much attention, and does so by sometimes leaving his puppy in the yard in front of Sanzo’s room. He then crouches and holds his breath as he peeks through the kitchens, the library, the storehouse—

—but nothing beats the room where Sanzo holds his daily mass prayer for the devotees in town. Goku observes how Sanzo beats his _khakkara_ to the floor thrice, and shakes it as he goes around the devotees, chanting a prayer all the while. He watches the flow of the white robes and veil, the golden crown adorning Sanzo’s head, the light swaying of the sutra on his shoulders—

Goku hides when the mass is over, crouches behind a corner, and peeks when the steady flow of the devotees exit the room. He hides when some of them look around, and waits for the footsteps and the murmurs of the people fall into silence. Nodding to himself, he peeks once more, only to see a curtain of white blocking his view.

“Had fun with the mass?” Sanzo drones as he tucks his crown and veil back inside his robe. Goku says nothing, and stares long and hard at the sleeves of the robe, and then, Goku shakes his head, and refuses to stand up from where he kneels. Sanzo sighs and offers his hand, only for Goku to refuse. “What, did you hurt yourself again?”

“Let me worship you,” Goku whispers, his lips parted and his eyes wide as he takes purchase on the hem of the white robes and looks up at Sanzo, and it takes a moment for the monk to comprehend the child’s words. When he does, Sanzo looks taken aback, and reprimands the child.

“I’m not the one they’re worshipping, idiot.”

“I know, but still.”

Sanzo clicks his tongue as he tries to tear his eyes away from the taintless child. He can never say no to that face.

At night, behind the door to Sanzo’s room, Goku kneels by the monk’s feet—he rests his head on the robed knee, and wraps his arms around Sanzo’s leg. Closing his eyes, Goku mutters a prayer of his own, his voice too inaudible for Sanzo to hear, and yet—

Sanzo places a gentle hand on Goku’s hair, patting down the wayward locks, and he, too, mutters a solemn prayer to no one, his head bowed, his eyes closed, and his other hand clasped onto Goku’s.

Sanzo decides that he likes Goku’s form of worship the best—silent, yet intimate.


	13. Weakness

* * *

_“I thought I would die without you; in reality I was reborn.”_ ― **Seja Majeed**

* * *

 

-

**XIII. _Weakness_**

-

Sanzo has gotten used to Goku wandering around his room without permission no matter what time of the day it is. He usually finds Goku reading picture books, pronouncing some difficult words and mumbling them in undertone. Other times, he finds Goku rolling on the floor with his arms stretched overhead, laughing at each roll he makes. There are also times when he finds Goku sneaking a plate of dumplings under the bed sheets, or when Goku makes a poor attempt at a pillow fort—Sanzo has few pillows in bed to begin with, and so the child makes do with the blanket, instead.

Tonight, Sanzo sees Goku lying in the middle of the bed, curled up in a tight ball to one side, and Sanzo has noticed that Goku had slept like that since they met. Living alone for 500 years, Sanzo thinks, had probably left Goku with a dire need for emotional support—

“...Feh. Not that he can get that from me,” the blond huffs and sticks up his nose. He checks if the sleeping child will stir in sleep, and so he pokes Goku’s cheek. Goku’s lips twitch for a split second, and then nothing more. Frowning, Sanzo removes his robes and drapes them on a chair. He lays the rolled up sutra on the bedside table, and tries to push Goku to the far side, but to no avail.

Tapping his socked foot in frustration, he goes over to the other side of the bed and tries to get the blankets that Goku has laid on. Sanzo roughly tugs it once, and Goku buries his face deeper on the mattress on reflex—

Sanzo groans and mutters curses, and almost delivers the fan to Goku’s skull—

—when a muffled sob stops Sanzo mid-strike.

He crawls on the bed on all fours towards the child, and sees tears dripping from Goku’s closed eyes—

Sanzo quickly shoves the fan inside his robe. Grabbing the small shoulder, he nudges him once, and pauses when he hears Goku’s familiar voice crying inside his head. Sanzo hisses, glares and curses at Goku’s tears, and lifts him up—

—only to put the curled up Goku lying on his torso.

Sanzo lets out a long sigh, and stares at the wall as he slides his hand over Goku’s tangzhuang, the fingers gliding over the seemingly frail arm. Placing his lips to Goku’s head, he rests there and tries to cease the involuntary jerking—

“Stop—...stop crying—you idiot little monkey...!” Sanzo hisses as he holds the boy tighter to his chest, and tries to calm down the sleeping boy.

Sanzo keeps this up until dawn arrives, when he finally falls asleep, still muttering the words, “Don’t cry” to a now peacefully sleeping Goku.


	14. Likeness

-

**XIV. _Likeness_**

-

In the rock garden, Sanzo has forgotten all his premise of his work for the past few hours as he kneels on Goku’s feet and blows on the wound on Goku’s knee. Applying the antiseptic on the torn skin, Sanzo tuts at the instinctive kicks Goku almost does to Sanzo’s face. Goku jerks and howls, biting back his tears pooling from his eyes.

“I told you before not to talk to them,” Sanzo chides as he dips the damp cotton ball on the wound, blowing on it once more. “When will it ever get through your thick head that people here are shit?”

Goku winces at each dab of the cotton on the wound, and sniffles out, “But you were busy and I wanted to play but you wouldn’t let me so I tried playing with the novices and they pushed me on the ground because they said I was dirty and—”

“You believed them?”

“Uh. _No_. Because I go with you all the time and your clothes never get dirty.”

Sanzo stares blankly at the boy, tries to decipher any hidden meaning behind the words, and finds none. “In that case, what will you do now?”

Without hesitation, Goku pipes up, smiling wide from ear to ear, “Wait until you’re not busy anymore so I can play with you!”

Sanzo snorts out a laugh, and places the cotton ball on a flat rock, muttering about simple-minded monkeys. He pats down a few strips of gauze and tapes the edges on the skin. “Don’t move too much until it heals,” he orders, and stands up, patting bits of the grass from the hems of his robe. “There’s a basket of fruit near my bed. You can eat that. And stay there until that wound closes—”

Goku stands up and wraps his arms tight around Sanzo’s waist, “Thanks, Sanzo!” He takes a large step and almost runs, when he remembers Sanzo’s caution—and Goku walks slowly, dragging his injured knee behind him as to not bend it and disrupt the bandage. He looks and smiles at Sanzo one last time before he makes his way to Sanzo’s room.

The monk is left alone in the garden, picking up the cotton and antiseptic.

He glances at a nearby tree, and remembers the times his then fellow acolytes had treated him harshly, too—often mocking him, teasing him, calling him names and accusing him of vile things that no child should be accused of—

Sanzo grunts and stomps on some weeds, growling at the unwanted memories. He makes his way to his room, muttering to himself, “Don’t be like me, you tiny monkey.”


	15. Clothes

-

**XV. _Clothes_**

-

The midday sun prods his back as Sanzo juts his lower lip in quiet thought, glaring at the multitudes of fabric dumped in a pile in front of him. The woman selling clothes smiles at him, and he returns it with a frown.

He checks some of the pants, the vests, the jackets, the suits—and he grumbles as he tries and fails to match things in color—

“You have the ones that comes in pairs, right?” he asks with an irritated growl. The woman, nonetheless, nods with a deafening cheer, and disregards Sanzo’s ignorance with a huff as she dumps all of the clothes in pairs on top of the mass of fabrics he has been glaring at for the past hour.

Sanzo opens his mouth to retort, but shakes his head the last moment as he digs through the piles of clothes, and two pairs come to his attention. He inspects them, turns the suit and vest around this way and that, he checks for any holes and loose threads, and finds none. Satisfied, he hands them over along with his gold card to the smiling woman. “I’ll take these,” he mumbles, glaring at the clothes for one last time.

He buys the clothes, and returns to Keiun, raising his brows in vague greeting when the monks bow to greet him. He marches straight to his room, where he finds Goku still standing in front of the mirror, struggling with his jeans that had become a tad tighter around the waist.

“Here,” Sanzo offers, looking away when Goku turns to him, “you were struggling like a flailing fish on land, so—”

He doesn’t get to finish his poor attempt at hiding his offer of help through a string of insults, as Goku has already squealed and pounced on him, ignoring his blatant nudity as he flails his jeans away with his wildly flapping feet—

“Thanks, Sanzo—” he squeals, peppering Sanzo’s face with kisses with each whoop of thanks, “—thank you, oh, thank you!”

Sanzo raises his arms in hopes of getting the fan in his robes, but fails—and he stammers in between the quick kisses landing on his face. “You idiot monkey, get off me! Put your fucking clothes on!” he growls with a strange squeak at the end, and he screams as Goku ignores Sanzo’s demand and wraps his arms tighter around Sanzo’s neck.

Goku flails his feet even more in between peals of laughter, “Sanzo’s funny!”

Sanzo feels his face grow hot, and tries pushing Goku off with a plethora of curses, but the child remains relentless.

Growing tired of struggling, Sanzo lies back on the floor with an annoyed hiss, with Goku still squealing and clinging around his neck.


	16. Chopsticks

-

**XVI. _Chopsticks_**

-

Sanzo sighs for the umpteenth time as he holds Goku’s right hand, “No, not like that—hold it like this—” He tightens his hold on the boy’s hand, his index and middle fingers flattening on the chopsticks, “You now know how to hold an ink brush, right?” Goku nods, and Sanzo continues, “So, you hold it like this—keep your middle finger put, only your forefinger moves—”

The door to Sanzo’s office opens, and a monk bows and greets him, “Sanzo- _sama_ , the documents for this month’s expenses are here—”

“Yeah, put it there on the desk,” Sanzo says out loud without even looking up, his attention still focused on the boy struggling to properly hold chopsticks. “N—okay, that’s a bit better, try doing it slowly at first,” he mutters in undertone, and the monk standing by the doorway gulps as he notices how Sanzo’s lips are near the demon child’s ear, his right hand clasped on the boy’s, guiding the child to use the utensils properly. Sanzo lets go of the boy, and observes how Goku pouts and grumbles at the flimsy pieces of wood—

Sanzo raises an eyebrow at the monk by the door, and the latter squeaks and scrambles to the desk, and places the documents there. With a quick apology, the monk goes red, and mutters a string of apologies as he closes the door behind him.

“Sanzo, I finally did it!” Goku squeaks in glee as he raises his right hand, his fingers holding the chopsticks in a perfect parallel position, the pieces not crossed as they have been minutes prior. Sanzo nods in silent satisfaction, the edges of his lip trying not to muster a small smile. Goku is not aware of it, and he tests it by taking noodles from the bowl before him, and eats it with a hearty slurp, its broth splattering on his plump cheeks.

Sanzo, meanwhile, tuts, takes a napkin, and wipes on the edges of Goku’s mouth and cheeks.

“Next, we’ll do proper table manners...”


	17. Streaking

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had fun writing this chapter—makes me giggle every time I think about this headcanon-turned-ficlet. XD

-

**XVII. _Streaking_**

-

“Goku, get back here!”

The child ignores the blond’s furious command, and runs down the corridor giggling, his wet, bare feet pattering on the red cement. He hasn’t run down stark naked before, or if he has, he must have forgotten it, but hearing Sanzo spluttering expletives as he chases Goku down the temple hallways with a large, fluffy towel in hand certainly makes Goku screech in sheer glee.

The bath water has been cold to balance out the summer heat, and Goku counters it by running around and trying to get away from Sanzo’s ire.

He almost steps into another corner when he hears people talking. Goku pauses in his run, and peeks out of the corner to see a group of monks talking amongst each other, all of them unaware of Goku—

Goku holds back a squeak as he steps back, and returns to the hallways he has passed by, gulping down his frantic yells for help.

He has never quite liked the monks in Keiun, aside from Sanzo and the abbot.

He sees an angry Sanzo standing in the middle of the hallway, looking around with the towel still clutched in his hand, and Goku yelps.

“Sanzo, Sanzo, Sanzo! The towel, the towel!”

Whipping his head around, Sanzo crosses his arms and growls, “There you are, you little shrimp! Why did you even go out buck nak—”

“The towel, the towel!” Goku begs, his arms stretched out to the towel in Sanzo’s hands. He jumps in vain, trying to snatch it from the taller male, who takes it further out of reach.

“Oh, so _now_ you want to cover yourself? Bah, get your own towel,” Sanzo huffs, and plops the towel on his damp, blond locks, and turns away, only to hear Goku making a keening sound that he’s about to cry. Sanzo scoffs, and turns, “Look, Goku. You can’t just run around wearing nothing when—”

The sound of laughter pierces the still, summer air, and Sanzo pales as he zooms his sights on the monks huddling together, all of then unaware as they approach Goku and Sanzo.

Without warning, he wraps Goku up in the damp towel and carries him on his forearm. “Lie low,” he mutters, and Goku does so, hiding his face on Sanzo’s chest. Goku even tucks his legs close to Sanzo’s abdomen, and he holds his breath as some of the monks approach Sanzo from behind for a morning greeting.

Sanzo does not turn to look at them, but greets them all the same with a stiff nod and a grunt. The blond walks away without another word, careful not to expose any of Goku’s toweled parts. For once, he’s thankful for not removing his damp, priestly robes when he bathed Goku earlier.

As they turn around a corner, Goku, still completely wrapped in the towel, peeks at Sanzo with one eye, and bites back a giggle as he pecks Sanzo’s jaw.

Sanzo glances at him, then back at the silent hallway. His footsteps seem louder in the silence, and when Goku removes the towel from his upper half, he wraps his arms around the blond, humming and smiling.

Sanzo huffs, but fails to fight back a small smile.

“Silly monkey.”


	18. Ink

-

**XVIII. _Ink_**

-

Goku has tried and failed in developing his drawing skills, so when Sanzo goes away from his office for the mass prayer, Goku sneaks in and plops on the seat that Sanzo occupies, and fiddles with some of the documents on the desk.

He pauses, inspects the letters—he has learned to read some quite advanced words lately—and slides them back on the desk. Knowing better than to play around with Sanzo’s documents, Goku rummages inside the drawers, searching for blank pieces of paper, and when he finds a stash of blank pages, Goku grins.

He twiddles his toes inside his shoes, and reaches out to a half-full ink bottle lying next to some scrolls filled with petitions. He opens the bottle, peeks inside, and takes the brush. Dipping it in the bottle, he then thinks of what he will draw. He looks around the room, sees a few piles of books here and there, two hanging scrolls by the doorway, and through the window, the sunlight reflecting bits of floating dust in the air.

Goku hums, dips the brush on the paper, and begins to draw.

Sanzo later returns with a can of beer, and blinks when he sees Goku sleeping on his desk, with his face filled with streaks of ink made to look like whiskers.

Sanzo opens his mouth and almost berates the boy for wasting precious ink, when he stops and stares at Goku’s sleeping face. Sanzo huffs, picks up the discarded ink brush on the table, and fills in a circle on Goku’s nose. He snorts when Goku’s nose twitches in his sleep, and he glances at a drawing hidden under Goku’s right hand.

He picks it up, and smiles.

On the paper, drawn in both too thick and too thin lines, is a sketch of stick-man Sanzo—he notices himself by the two rectangles on the shoulders representing the sutra—reading a book to a crude sketch of Goku—he notices it is Goku by the too spiky hair—under the Boddhisatva’s peach tree.

Sanzo laughs to himself, and folds the drawing, only to tuck it inside his sleeve.

He pats Goku’s head, burying his fingers in the soft, hickory locks, and carries him to bed as soon as Goku stirs.


	19. Taste

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have this headcanon, that during the four years that Sanzo travelled all around China, he managed to get at least the most basic skills of cooking, not up to par with Hakkai’s level, but decent enough, I think—hence, this ficlet

-

**XIX. _Taste_**

-

Goku has always attempted to try out cooking, with Sanzo always being his unfortunate taste tester. He tries his hand on anything—soups, noodles, beef and pork cutlets—yet nothing seems to alleviate Sanzo’s taste buds.

Tonight, Goku tries his hand on fish. With a large glob of mayonnaise on top of the rice bowl, Goku smiles as he takes a step back and admires his latest work. The door to Sanzo’s office opens, and in comes the monk himself, looking weary after an entire day’s worth of meeting with the other monks.

“Sanzo, welcome back!” he squeals out, going over to the blond to hug him by the waist. Sanzo pats Goku on the head and rubs his shoulder, and sees the tray of food on his desk.

He goes over to his desk and begins to eat, nodding in silence when he tries the rice topped with mayonnaise. He plucks bits of the fish with his chopsticks, and puts them in his mouth, and looks at Goku. “Kinda bland. Here,” Sanzo says, offering a piece of fish.

Goku accepts, taking in the fish in his mouth. He licks the chopsticks for a good measure—a habit that Sanzo frowns on—and smacks his lips, “Um, yeah. It is sorta bland. Um, sorry?”

Sanzo smirks, shaking his head as he takes another piece of the fish. Goku gulps and watches in silence with his hands behind his back, only now has he become aware of what he has just done with Sanzo’s chopsticks, and as Sanzo closes his eyes for another mouthful of rice, Goku bites his lip and fidgets.

“You should know to cook fried fish with a bit of taste, at least,” Sanzo comments in between sips of green tea. Goku nods, and waits for Sanzo to finish his meal, and when he does, he stands up. “Come with me,” Sanzo says, wiping his mouth as he does so. Goku obeys as he carries the empty tray of food, and follows Sanzo into the empty kitchen.

There, Sanzo teaches Goku how to season and fry a fish on a stick. Goku stands close, asking questions as to when to turn the fish, how to know when it’s done, how long before it cools down enough to eat—

And Sanzo answers them all, and when they sit down to eat, Goku swings his feet as he chews and grins at the monk. “It’s good!” he cheeps, pursing his lips when the fish got too hot in his mouth. Sanzo passes him a glass of water, and Goku accepts.

Sanzo ruffles Goku’s hair, and they eat in a comfortable silence.

From outside the kitchen, the temple cook hides behind the door, too stunned and too shy to go inside, afraid of breaking the tranquil aura around Genjo Sanzo.


	20. Braids

-

**XX. _Braids_**

-

Sanzo sits in the library, reading a book about taking care of small animals. Behind him, Goku flexes his tiny fingers and begins his mission of braiding what little he can do to the short, golden locks.

He divides the hair into three, small sections, and begins to braid as Sanzo turns another page of his book.

“Sanzo,” Goku whines, “I can only make, like, two, very tiny braids with your hair and it’s not much to play with.”

Sanzo hums and adjusts his glasses, “I don’t plan on getting it long unless the world runs out of shears, so deal with it.”

Pouting, Goku pokes Sanzo’s nape once, and the blond scoffs in reply. He unravels the braids, and ties the ends in a small ponytail instead. Goku takes a few osmanthus flowers on the table—flowers he had picked this morning—and tucks them in and around the ponytail. Once happy with his work, Goku grins, and Sanzo lightly shakes his head a few times.

“Hey, what did you do.”

Goku beams as Sanzo turns and faces the boy, “I put flowers in your hair. They’re really pretty!”

Sanzo attempts to reason with him, tries to tell him that flowers are usually adorned on girls. But as he looks at how Goku seems to be expecting of a positive reply, Sanzo concedes with a sigh and a quick ruffle to Goku’s hair.

“All right, then. This is good.”

Goku grins wide and bounces on his feet, and pecks Sanzo on the cheek.

Afternoon comes with a warm glow on Keiun, and Sanzo goes around the temple, overseeing the monks around about the weekly mass, all the while ignoring the odd stares he gets when he cranes his neck to a certain direction, showing the tiny, white flowers entwined in his ponytailed hair.


	21. Moonlight

-

**XXI. _Moonlight_**

-

Sanzo opens the door to his room, only to see Goku sitting on the window sill facing the moon, decked in one of his priest garbs once again. Under the sheer light of the moon, Goku’s tanned skin shines in a sullen gray, the boy’s shoulders exposed once more from the loose fabric.

Sanzo closes the door, not tearing his eyes away from the sight before him. Goku notices, and faces him with a smile and a greeting. “You’re wearing my clothes again,” he murmurs, caressing Goku’s cheek as the little demon leans in to the touch.

“I told you, it’s comfortable,” the boy breathes with a lilting laugh, and he makes a move to hop down from the window, only for Sanzo to stop him with a hand on his shoulder.

Sanzo pats his hair, and sits on the window sill as well. Moonlight also bathes his form, his skin graced with a silver glow. Goku makes the small space even smaller as he shifts closer to the man, and drapes his body on Sanzo’s. The air is calm and quiet, and hearing the sound of Sanzo’s heart beating lulls him to sleep.

Sanzo, however, remains wide awake as he peers outside, and caresses the small body with his thumb. Outside, he can see the faint outlines of some of the novices meditating in the still of the night. On the trees are the nocturnal birds, hooting and cawing every now and then. The peach tree that Goku favors for its plump fruits seems to glow under the moonlit night, and, for once, Sanzo sees the reason why the temple sees it as sacred.

He turns his attention back to the boy nuzzling his chin, and he fights back a chuckle as a tuft of hair tickles his cheek. Goku’s arm is exposed once more, and on instinct, Sanzo touches it, the need to know if the skin is as smooth as how he thinks it will be. The fingers dance on the expanse of skin, and as he reaches to the elbow, Sanzo is tempted to remove the robe, to expose Goku under the moon, to bathe him in its light and to marvel at the demon’s innocent beauty.

He wants to, but does not do it, in fear of what may happen after that.

So he scoots Goku closer to him, and places a kiss on his head as he has been doing for some time. And, oh—

—the robe slips further as Goku moves, the loosely tied robe exposing too much of Goku’s leg and arm, and Sanzo inwardly curses the moon for highlighting and emphasizing the slopes, the dips, and the curves of the exposed parts. His hand moves to touch them—to cover them, his mind says—but his fingers tell another story.

Goku shifts once more, carefree and innocent in his sleep, and Sanzo musters to rein in his control.

Goku’s lips part, showing a light sheen on the plump flesh, and Sanzo almost snaps.


	22. Return

-

**XXII. _Return_**

-

“Can I bury it there? Please?”

Goku looks at Sanzo with wide, puppy eyes, and Sanzo’s resolve to turn him down crumbles with each passing second.

Goku raises the body of a fallen, yellow bird in his small hands towards Sanzo, and the monk finally gives in. The little monkey has grown fond of this particular bird for some time now, and to see him weeping over it after it fell to the ground—well, Sanzo tries to comprehend the child, but fails.

At the break of dawn, they make their trek to Mt. Gogyou, where Sanzo had found Goku imprisoned behind stone bars, and on their way there, Sanzo quizzes Goku.

“Why can’t you just bury it in the temple?” he asks, his breath coming in short pants as they climb the steep hill towards the mountain. He has sworn never to return to Mt. Gogyou since he found Goku, but the little monkey has been persistent—

“I want to give it a proper burial. It may be a few hundred years late—I think—but I want to do it,” Goku says, mustering a smile despite the tears pooling from the corners of his eyes. Sanzo makes no comment, and watches him from the corner of his eye as Goku hugs the small basket with the dead bird inside.

The sun has been sitting high in the sky when they reach the mountain, and Goku gulps when he sees his former cage for the last 500 years. He looks to Sanzo for reassurance, and the monk simply nods, and gives him a soft nudge to the back.

Goku kneels in front of the cave, and lays down the yellow bird on the stone. He then opens his knapsack, and takes out a large bag full of dirt, and scoops up the soil and pours it onto the bird, molding it into a small, smooth hill. He also takes out some stones he has picked on the way to the mountain, and places them around the grave.

All the while, Sanzo watches him in silence.

When the small grave is finished, Goku places a single, white lily on the mound, and stares at it for some time.

Sanzo waits until Goku’s grievance is over. It lasts for a few minutes, until the little demon stands up and walks over to Sanzo, and clutches onto his sleeve, and says nothing. It isn’t until he hears a faint sniffling that Sanzo pats Goku’s head, “All things return to the ground, Goku. You did well.”

Goku sniffles and wipes his snot on his rolled up sleeve, and nods.

They descend the mountain in silence, but Goku gives the grave one final glance, and bows to it.

“Please be happy and live a longer life in your next one.”

“Goku, come on,” Sanzo calls from a few feet away, and Goku runs after him, all tears gone as he holds Sanzo’s hand.


	23. Flowers

-

**XXIII. _Flowers_**

-

Goku has taken a new habit lately, Sanzo observes. The child will often play in the rock garden, prodding at the irises and chrysanthemums planted there—and when he deems the flowers bright and beautiful enough, he plucks them, cleans them, and takes them to Sanzo’s room, placing the blooms in a vase or on top of Sanzo’s bed when they’re dry enough.

And Sanzo, unbeknownst to himself, has taken a liking to this habit, and often finds himself placing them under the sun, watering them, trying to prolong their short lives as much as possible.

At one point, he sees a vision when he closes his eyes under the sun—a vision of a desk similar but different to his, a bouquet of baby’s breath, and an overly eager and smaller Goku, running up to him with a smile.

Sanzo shakes the vision away, and chalks it up as a trick of the light. He hears the door open, and Goku steps inside with another bouquet of today’s flowers.

“The lady in front of the temple gave this to me in exchange of carrying her jars!” Goku cheers. “See? Honeysuckles, violas, magnolias—and look, toad lilies!” He runs over to the blond, offering the flowers with a blinding grin, “The toad lilies remind me of you! Can withstand sudden changes and are violet and spotty, but still really pretty!”

Sanzo blinks and is taken aback at the description. He knows Goku has been reading on medicinal plants lately—a suggestion that Sanzo made because he knows how Goku loves to look at colorful pictures—but after hearing such a description from Goku, it sounds as though it is a thinly veiled attempt at proclaiming a confession.

“Sanzo, here,” Goku takes out all of the toad lilies from the bouquet, and puts them in Sanzo’s hand, “you can have those now. I’m putting these in my room and yours.” And Goku walks away, humming a song he no doubt has recently heard from the streets.

Sanzo looks at the toad lilies in his hand, notes the dark, purple spots on the petals, and huffs.

“Tch, what part of this thing looks like me?” he mutters, and yet—

—he makes room for the lilies in the vase that has been occupied by a few sunflowers, and smiles to himself.


	24. Learning

-

**XXIV. _Learning_**

-

In the absence of a tutor he can be at ease with, Sanzo fills in for Goku’s education, often teaching him practical things related to Goku’s curious nature—the world of plants and their medicinal properties, and the proper spices to use to enhance the taste in certain foods.

Tonight, Sanzo lies on the bed, and reads a book to Goku under the lamplight, its contents that of various plants and their descriptions.

“This one,” he points to one plant, “what is it?”

Goku squints at the picture of a yellow root, purses his lips at the rough edges, and makes a disgusted face. “Geh, goldthread! No!” he puffs his cheeks and buries his face on Sanzo’s chest, shaking his head repeatedly. “You made me drink that before! Too bitter!”

“I know, but why did I make you drink that?”

Goku peeks one eye at the blond, and pouts, “You said it’s for stomachaches. So that must be it. But I don’t like the taste.”

Sanzo hums, “Correct. Stomachaches. How about—” He turns another page, and points at the picture of a bright pink flower with thin petals, “—this one?”

Goku suddenly pipes up, his bare toes wiggling beneath the blanket, “Milkvetch! Used for teas and soups and other delicious things to make metabolism faster!”

Sanzo chuckles, and takes in the scent of peach from Goku’s hair, “Correct. And this one?”

A small hand moves Sanzo’s finger away from the picture of a flower with four petals, its colors ranging from pink to red to purple. Goku pauses, and buries half of his face back to Sanzo’s chest, and feels his face grow hot, “Barrenwort, for... um... decreasing blood pressure and, um, has aphrodisiac properties. Um.”

Sanzo takes a moment to digest Goku’s apprehension, and when it does sink in, he snorts, and ruffles Goku’s hair. “I don’t even want to ask where you get that word from—”

“From the trainees!” he blurts out, and Sanzo cringes at the sudden screech. Goku tries again, in a softer voice, “Sorry—um, from the trainees. I heard them talking about it earlier—something about chicken dinners—”

Sanzo’s eyes widen, and he plants his palm to Goku’s ear, “Erase that from your memory. You’re too young for that.” He dreads the string of questions about to come forth. He knows how the little monkey thinks, Goku’s voice has been pestering him for who-knows-how-many lifetimes—

“But it sounds good. Um. Okay. Then, will you teach me when I’m older?”

Sanzo stills and his skin prickles from sudden heat, and he stops stroking the hickory locks, “Why are you so adamant on that all of a sudden?”

“Because I want to know—you seem interested in it, too. I can tell. Is—is it something dirty?”

Sanzo takes a deep sigh and nods, not trusting his mouth to speak at the moment. He’ll have to give out punishments to all the trainees tomorrow—

“Um, well, can—can you teach me those things when I’m older? They seem happy about it and I want to know—”

“Goku, we’re not having this conversation until you’re mentally old enough.” Sanzo closes the book and turns off the gas lamp, his back now facing Goku in the dark.

Sanzo feels his back being poked by a finger, and ignores it. A few minutes pass, and Sanzo deems the subject dropped, until Goku drapes his arm above his slim waist.

Goku whispers to the pale nape, and is unaware of his breath making the tiny hairs stand on end. He rubs his nose to Sanzo’s back, and smiles.

“In that case—Sanzo, you’re going to teach me patience for a very long time.”

Sanzo’s heart hitches in his throat at the words, and he realizes, as Goku finally drifts to sleep, that he’s right.

He’ll be teaching Goku patience for a long time.

But then again—

—Sanzo has never been one for having draconian patience.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chicken dinner is a slang for having sex with an underage boy.


	25. Music

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here’s my take on that picture Minekura-sensei drew of a peaceful-looking Seiten Taisei playing the pipa.

 

-

**XXV. _Music_**

-

Sanzo awakes to a sound he has only heard from the restaurants, and other times, the streets.

He rises from his bed and drapes his priestly robes, and exits his room.

In the garden, he sees a figure sitting atop one of the flat stones under the blanket of the dawn sky, and Sanzo almost berates the familiar figure when the sound plays again.

Only then has Sanzo noticed that Goku is holding something in his hand. Cradled to his left shoulder is a long, wooden neck ending in a circle on top. Sanzo squints, tries to see under the still dark sky—

The small hand moves along the neck, the fingers gliding and plucking and vibrating on the four strings—

Sanzo, lost in his thought, sits on the floor, his gaze now trained on the nimble fingers plucking the strings of the pipa—

Goku turns his head, and continues to play, the notes bending in trills with each press of the fingers on the strings. Unaware of his solitary audience, Goku shifts to a milder, yet shriller tone, and his lips part as a tear falls from his eye.

Sanzo almost moves from where he sits, but stops when Goku looks to the sky, and Sanzo blinks at the sight of Goku’s golden coronet looking thinner, rounder—

He blinks again, and the thin coronet is gone—and in its place, Goku’s normal, thicker limiter sits around his head. Sanzo wonders, as Goku continues to play a song of love and lament, if what he has seen had been a trick of the light, an illusion—

The song stops, and golden eyes meet violet ones.

The pipa falls to the ground, and Sanzo swoops in just in time to catch Goku in his arms.

He wipes the remnants of tears from the boy’s face, and under the slow rising of the sun, he sees a glimpse of narrowed, cat-like eyes.

The demon child goes limp in his arms, and mutters Sanzo’s name.

The monk looks around, at a loss of what to do, when he sees the discarded pipa on the grass, and narrows his eyes at it. “...Seiten Taisei, isn’t it...?”

Goku stirs, breathes deeply for a few moments, and opens his eyes, “Sanzo, wha—?”

“You sleepwalked. You remember anything?” Sanzo grumbles out, and Goku shakes his head, wide eyes showing complete confusion. Sighing, the monk carries Goku to his room. “Don’t creep up on me like that again,” he hisses, glancing a moment too long at the abandoned pipa.

Goku apologizes, and Sanzo says nothing more.

The song that he has heard minutes ago echo in Sanzo’s mind, and he fights back a smile, etching the soothing tune in his memory.

Needless to say, Sanzo has discovered Goku’s hidden talent, even if Goku is still unaware of it.


	26. Unwind

-

**XXVI. _Unwind_**

-

Since he has been living with Sanzo, festivals have become one of Goku’s favorite events. There’s merriment and food everywhere from morning till dawn, and he has an excuse to go out with Sanzo after the work in the temple is over. He has to drag the monk out to get a breath of fresh air, but it’s fine by Goku.

Goku drags him out from Keiun for the night—and tells Sanzo it’s a nice idea to be in the public eye without his usual priest robes. Bouncing on his heels, he barely holds in a squeal as he goes over to a vendor selling candied fruits. Sanzo, for the most part, keeps an eye on the cheerful thing, and also looks out for any regular devotees in Keiun who may recognize him—

“Hell no, I am not going to minister another wedding tonight,” he grumbles, and adjusts the ji on his head, and glances down at his maroon hanfu one last time, checking to see if anything seems out of place. He looks at Goku again, and notices he has bought four sticks of candied apples.

“Wan’some?” Goku asks in between mouthfuls of the sugared treat. He holds one out to Sanzo, and the latter accepts it with reluctance. “Don’worry, S’nzo—ulp—don’t worry! No one here will notice.”

“Yeah, but if you call me by that name, people will damn well notice,” Sanzo tuts, and takes a bite of the candied apple. He takes Goku’s hand and leads him into the boisterous crowd dancing along to the drums and flutes—and takes a step back when he sees a pair of newlyweds being paraded down the street. He curses, and starts to go back to the stall—

Goku, seeing a meat bun stand nearby, tightens his hold on Sanzo, though, and takes the lead as Sanzo reluctantly tags along and glances at the newlyweds every now and then.

Once away from the procession, Sanzo lets out a deep sigh, and reprimands Goku for dragging him to the festival. Goku grins up at him with the candied apple still in his mouth, and orders four meat buns from the stand, and offers one to the monk without a word. Sanzo holds up his barely eaten candied apple and frowns. Goku shrugs, and takes a bite off the bun.

They go from food stall to food stall, eating all the food that the vendors offer. Sanzo watches the people drunk in merriment with a passive face, his hand not releasing the boy. He sees a few devotees of the temple here and there, and he has to lower his head and cover his face with his sleeve a few times, cursing them inwardly for making him do sermons and weddings the entire day.

He feels a tug on his robe, and looks down to see Goku offering him sweet and sour pork balls. Sanzo accepts, and chews through it as he glares at the people passing them by.

They spend their time like this, eating the night away, and in Sanzo’s case, drinking it away, all the while keeping watch on his little charge.

When they return to the temple, it has been well past three in the morning, and Sanzo washes off any remnants of the smell of food and liquor from his body. Goku, meanwhile, rolls around the bed, yelling to Sanzo how fun the festival has been, and how he wants to go to another one again.

Sanzo emerges from the bathroom looking quite irritated after that, but Goku laughs Sanzo’s irritation away with a cup of green tea he has prepared while the blond was showering.

Sanzo gulps it down in one go, and plops to bed.

Goku hears his soft snoring within minutes, and the brunet stifles his giggles.

Seeing the wrinkled brows and the almost constant frown melting from Sanzo’s countenance in his sleep brings a smile to Goku’s face.

He kisses his cheek and bids the monk goodnight, and whispers.

“I knew it was a good thing to bring you to festivals. You get to lower your guard and relax once in a while.”


	27. Wrinkle

-

**XXVII. _Wrinkle_**

-

Goku takes pleasure in smoothing out the lines from Sanzo’s face. Rare times that they are, he sneaks into the blond’s room when there’s not much to do in the temple, quietly gets in bed, lies down beside the sleeping man, and prods, pokes, and presses the soft curves and lines from Sanzo’s brow and the areas around his nose.

Looking closer, he notices faint lines under those droopy eyes, too, so Goku, with his pinky, smoothens out the little bags away with his lightest touch, and smiles. Upon releasing the persistent and unwanted little bags under those closed eyes, Goku pouts when they return, its existence mocking Goku’s attempt at trying to make them go away.

Glaring at the offensive eye bags, his finger slides over the corners of the man’s mouth, and touches the frown lines. He presses and lightly pulls back the skin of the pale cheek, and grins when Sanzo’s nostrils widen—

A narrowed, squinting, violet eye opens, and glares daggers at a grinning Goku.

“Mornin’, Sanzo,” Goku cheeps, his fingers still stretching the man’s cheek.

Sanzo retaliates, pinching Goku’s cheek a tad too hurtful, “What are you doing?”

“Smooth’n’ ou’ yer face linesh—gah!” Sanzo’s lips twitch to an almost smile as Goku scrunches his face. “You sleep looking so angry most of the time so I thought I should lessen the lines on your face! Tee hee!”

Sanzo snorts, stretches the wrinkled skin beside Goku’s eyes, and comments, “You have wrinkles there, too, idiot.”

Goku blinks, his eyes widen, and bolts up from the bed, and takes the mirror by the bedside table, “Huh? What? Where? Sanzo, I can’t see it!” He takes the mirror closer to his face, his eyes close to watering from trying to focus too much, and sees Sanzo’s reflection in it.

Laying his chin on Goku’s shoulder, Sanzo mutters a quiet laugh, “Iiidiot—you fell for it.”

Goku scoffs, and the corners of his lips turn upwards as he turns to the just woken man. He tackles Sanzo back on the bed, unaware of the wrinkles forming beside his eyes from peals of laughter, unaware that its very sight gives Sanzo a soft laughter of his own.


	28. Remedies

-

**XXVIII. _Remedies_**

-

Goku has known for quite some time that Sanzo is farsighted, something that Goku frowns upon. Goku has no problems with his eyesight, but Sanzo has, and that makes Goku unhappy.

So he takes it upon himself to brush on what he has learned about medicinal plants with Sanzo—all to give the man a cure to Sanzo’s cumbersome farsightedness.

He urges a skeptical Sanzo to go with him to the garden, and upon Goku’s ceaseless insistence, Sanzo relents, and they make their way to there, where a folding, beach chair lies under one of the trees. Beside it sits a table, with a bowl of four cucumbers.

Goku tugs on Sanzo’s arm, urging him to go with him. The monk concedes, and allows himself to recline on the chair, ignoring the sunrays peeking through the tree’s leaves—

“Goku. This is making me uncomfortable already—”

“Nonsense—this will help you! Here,” Goku laughs out, holding Sanzo’s head down with a firm touch. He takes one of the four cucumbers from the bowl, and balances it on top of Sanzo’s nose. “It’s supposed to soothe your eyes—maybe that will help you get better!” He smiles wide, bouncing on the balls of his feet as he waits for Sanzo to comment, and when he does, it isn’t the answer he’s expecting.

“Goku—this thing won’t help my eyes. You’re supposed to slice it, and this thing only works for—”

“Oh! Um, okay!” And Goku takes the fruit knife beside the bowl and takes the cucumber from Sanzo’s face. He chops it in half, and puts it back on Sanzo’s eyes, balancing each one with precision. “How about now?”

“…no. Goku, listen—”

“Oh, you have to wait 20 minutes! Right.” Goku takes a small stool and sits by Sanzo’s feet, “I can wait!”

There’s silence for a few moments, and a bright-eyed Goku watches Sanzo with a wide smile, wiggling his toes as he does so. Sanzo shifts, and Goku perks up, expecting some results—

“Goku…”

“Yes?”

“…this only works for eye bags, not farsightedness. The vegetable you’re supposed to prepare is a carrot.”

“…oh.”

Goku then bolts up from his seat and leaves Sanzo under the tree, only to return in seconds flat with four, large carrots, and chops them on the table. He removes the cucumber from Sanzo’s face, and replaces it with carrots sliced vertically down the middle.

“There. How about now?” Goku asks, hopeful for a positive response.

Sanzo sighs, and forces himself to relax as he places his hands on his abdomen. He waits for a few moments before replying, “Yeah, I think it’s working.” Goku whoops in joy, and Sanzo holds back his laughter. He hears Goku shuffling along the garden, the heavy steps reaching his ears—

“I’m going to ask the cook to give you more carrots on your meals!” Goku cheers, and jogs his way to the kitchen, leaving Sanzo in the garden once more.

When he hears silence, Sanzo smirks to himself, and fails to hold back a few chortles as he takes one carrot slice from his eyes, and chews on it.

“Heh. Silly little monkey.”


	29. Winter

-

**XXIX. _Winter_**

-

On cold, winter days, Sanzo notices Goku removing the ponytail that Sanzo had tied for him. At first, Sanzo scolds the boy for doing so, but after realizing that Goku only wants to turn his hair into his makeshift scarf, Sanzo stops berating him.

Goku has never once requested for any winter clothes, saying that he can take the winter cold just fine, but Sanzo has other plans.

During the times when Goku sleeps in his own room, Sanzo takes it as an opportunity to rummage through what little things he possesses—spare robes, dress shirts, slacks, jeans, _a cloak_.

Sanzo pauses, and takes out the cloak from his cabinet. The fabric is large and thick enough to cover Goku twice and a half, he muses.

Plus, it’s soft and fluffy. Goku likes soft and fluffy things.

Sanzo nods to himself, and goes to the room beside his to check on the little monkey, and is not surprised to see him huddling in the corner of the bed, trying to make himself small.

“Hey, little monkey.”

Goku looks up, just in time to catch the thick, fleece cloak in his hands.

“Wear that, at least,” Sanzo suggests as he looks away. “Can’t have you getting sick when you hang around me all the damn time.”

Goku looks at the large, fluffy cloak, turns it over twice, and grins at the seemingly disinterested blond. “Thanks, Sanzo!”

Sanzo crosses his arms and huffs, and goes back to his room without a word.

The following snow-filled morning, Sanzo wakes up and finds Goku on his bed, sleeping beside him with an idiotic grin on his face. He feels a heavy thing on his shoulder—

—Sanzo looks at where the blankets are covering both of them, and a small grin quirks from Sanzo’s lips as he notices the large, fluffy cloak draped on their warmed bodies.


	30. Autumn

-

**XXX. _Autumn_**

-

Goku had always seen the changing of the forests from green to red and brown from behind the bars of his stone cage, but today is the first time he has seen them up close.

He jumps and squeals and rolls around the pile of leaves on the ground, throwing the crunchy leaves every now and then.

From atop of a large, flat rock sits Sanzo, smoking a cigarette under the canopy of reddened leaves from the trees. Sanzo glances at the lively child with every squeal he hears, and he musters to level his breathing just to feel relaxed. He takes a deep drag of his cigarette, and exhales the smoke upwards.

“Goku,” he calls out, “you’re making it difficult for the novices to do their jobs if you keep doing that shit.”

Goku stops, looks down at the mess he just made, and grins. “But it’s so fun! Sanzo, you should try it, too! Look, look! Wheee!” He plops on a neat pile of leaves in a corner, and attempts to swim in it, making Sanzo snort.

“Why should I waste my time when I can just step on the leaves and hear their crunch under my feet? Besides, my robes will get dirty and—”

Sanzo’s words halt to a stop when a handful of leaves goes straight to his face. The culprit stands under the large pile of leaves, grinning and ignoring the bits of stray twigs and leaves stuck to his thick hair. The leaves stick to the blond locks, and some of them flutter to the pristine robe. Sanzo’s eye twitches, and his nostrils flare at the little demon sticking his tongue out.

“Catch me, Sanzo! Catch me!”

The little runt runs around the garden, and Sanzo throws out handful after handful of leaves, cursing all the while.

“Stay! Still! You! Puny! Shit!”

Goku’s peals of laughter ring in the autumn air as Sanzo chases him down with the paper fan and a handful of leaves, attracting the attention of some of the monks and novices nearby.

Once they are near the garden, they see their highest priest—dressed in his usual, dignified robes, now covered in leaves and twigs and dirt—yelling at a little rambunctious demon, cursing Goku to no end as Sanzo stoops and scoops up leaves and twigs, throwing them straight at Goku’s grinning face.

The monks and the novices all look away and quietly return to their respective jobs, trying and failing to erase the image of Genjo Sanzo covered in bits of dead leaves while looking both frightening and ridiculous at the same time.

Once they have left, they fail to see a snarling Sanzo finally hauling a squealing Goku on his shoulder, the two of them making small scuffles all the way to the foyer.


	31. Therapy

-

**XXXI. Therapy**

-

Goku, despite looking like he has a mop of tangles and straw-like locks at first glance, actually has impossibly soft hair—Sanzo muses this as he takes a section of the brown locks and rubs them between his fingers, surprised at how fine and malleable the strands feel. Sure, Sanzo has combed and tied Goku’s hair into a ponytail everyday, but never has he realized its softness until now.

Having just finished his meditation, Sanzo sits on a cushion with his legs crossed, and on his left thigh, a sleeping Goku rests, his arms and legs splayed with each steady breath. During the first few minutes, Sanzo tries to scoot the boy away, only for the latter to return to his lap seconds later, and seeking refuge there. Sanzo has given up since then.

It has taken him a while to notice, but the soft, hickory strands feel like the sleek fur of a cat—but Sanzo hates cats. They make him sneeze. They rub around his leg too much. They leave their fur all over his clothes.

But Goku is not a cat, he’s a little monkey, and little monkeys don’t seem to make Sanzo sneeze.

So now, the monk plays with Goku’s hair, silently marveling at the feel and peace this soft hair is giving him. He flattens out the locks once, blinks upon seeing the tufts of hair shoot straight up, and so he repeats it twice, and soon, he realizes he cannot stop. Scrunching his fingertips in Goku’s scalp when he realizes the locks won’t stay down, Sanzo lets out a sigh as the softness and silkiness of the strands wrap around his fingers, its feel reminding him of cotton candy in the summer. Closing his eyes, he lets a smile slip past his lips just a tad as his shoulders droop and relax, his back hunching a little with each stroke on the soft hair—

—he continues doing this, unaware of the golden eyes peering up at him with a gentle smile.


	32. Playtime

-

**XXXII. _Playtime_**

-

Sanzo curses for the umpteenth time as he tries to shoo the puppy away from his foot. Goku is away on an errand—to buy this week’s supply of mayonnaise—and leaves Sanzo alone with the puppy, along with a kitten he had found on the streets. Goku has tried his best to convince Sanzo that the little animals will be great companions.

Sanzo clicks his tongue, glares at the panting dog and the unruly kitten, and scoffs. “That stupid monkey thinks these things are great company?” He looks at the dog’s wide and shiny brown eyes, the black, little nose, the floppy ears. He also notes the kitten sitting on top of the puppy, its little paws and teeth trying to chew on the twitching ears—and Sanzo’s face scrunches and turns away, “Feh.”

The minutes wear on, and Sanzo lights a cigarette in silence, the lack of noise only ruined by the occasional, playful yips of the dog, its tail and butt wagging in the air, begging for the monk’s attention. Soon, the kitten follows with a string of mewls, trying to grab at the puppy’s tail. As obstinate as Sanzo is, he takes out a scroll from his sleeves, unravels it, and raises it to his face and begins to read, ignoring the feline and canine for as long as he can.

He hears some of the novices from within earshot, and his brow twitches. He blocks out the sound, focusing his mind on reading the sentences written in smooth, flowing calligraphy. Soon, his mind begins to feel at ease, and gets in tune with the silence he so craves.

Even the puppy’s energy wanes the longer he tries to get Sanzo’s attention, and soon, it decides to lay its chin on the monk’s feet. The kitten mimics the dog’s actions, and lays its tiny head on Sanzo’s toes. Sanzo lowers the scroll from his face, and frowns at the animals. “Hey. I thought I told you to get away from me.”

The dog’s ears perk up, only to lower seconds later when Sanzo has stopped talking, and the puppy whines. Sanzo tries wriggling his socked feet, but the dog stays unmoving from its spot. The kitten, too, remains relentless, as it wraps its tiny paws around Sanzo’s big toe.

The dog’s dark brown eyes look up at him, and whimpers, begging Sanzo with each twitch and flop of its ears. From where Sanzo sits, it looks as though the puppy is frowning at him—

—so Sanzo returns the frown deeper in return.

The puppy stands, stretches its front legs, and repositions itself, curling its tail around Sanzo’s leg.

The kitten mews, and curls its body on Sanzo’s foot.

Sanzo blinks, and soon forgets his scroll.

Goku returns to Keiun with two bags full of one day’s worth of food—mostly—for him and Sanzo. He searches the temple for the monk, and when he finds him, he is left speechless as a peaceful-looking Sanzo lies on his stomach in bed, slumbering the afternoon away.

His right arm, however, dangles from the mattress and onto the floor, and Goku sees the puppy and the kitten bopping their heads on Sanzo’s fingers, trying to nuzzle the large hand.

Goku bites back his giggles, and lays a blanket on the sleeping man.

He picks up the puppy and the kitten, and nuzzles their furry heads.

“I knew you two will make great companions to Sanzo—tee hee—...oh, let’s not wake him up, okay?”

He places the animals down for a bit as Goku turns Sanzo over, and lays his dangling arm on the mattress. He gives Sanzo a peck on the forehead, and tiptoes back to his room with the puppy and the kitten now in tow, not before giving the monk one, final glance and a wide, happy grin.

“I’ll play with you tonight this time, Sanzo,” he whispers with a little giggle. “The pets have had their share of fun, after all.”


	33. Fear

-

**XXXIII. _Fear_**

-

Goku has recently taken up reading the books in Sanzo’s office when Sanzo’s away—a hobby that Sanzo appreciates.

Today, Goku reads about strange phenomena that occur during sleep. He takes in all of the information he can get—from nightmares to sleepwalking. One entry in the book catches his attention, however, one that makes his heart stop.

“People can... die in their sleep? ...they stop and forget breathing? Wha—but... How?” Goku gulps, and feels a heavy feeling in his stomach. He looks outside through the window, and sees that it is now dusk. He holds his breath, and runs to where Sanzo is, doing his daily prayers—

He pants as soon as he reaches the door, and peeks inside, relieved to see Sanzo’s shoulders rising and falling. He kneels beside the door and waits until Sanzo’s prayers are over.

When Sanzo is finished, he exits the room, and sees Goku sitting there with his feet tucked under him. “What is it? I’ve been hearing you in my head since noon.”

Goku fidgets, looks away from the piercing glare, and looks back up. “Sanzo, please don’t die.”

“What?”

And Goku tells Sanzo of everything that he has read, along with all of his sudden fears, and Sanzo takes a moment to reply.

“I can’t die, idiot,” he mutters as he turns his back to Goku, and removes his robes as he does so. “Who’s going to look after you and your stomach?”

Goku sits on the bed, unblinking, and mulls over Sanzo’s words. And when it dawns on him, his lower lip quivers, and he sniffles out his words. “R-really?”

“Yes, really. Now stop crying—” Sanzo doesn’t get to finish as Goku squeals and jumps in on him for a hug, and Sanzo, on instinct, opens out his arms to the boy, “—ah, fuck.”

That night, when everyone in Keiun is asleep, Goku rolls over to Sanzo’s side, and places his palm on Sanzo’s beating chest. Goku takes a deep breath at the sound of the soft thumping, and inches his ear to the lean breast, and smiles at the soothing warmth there. He rubs his cheek on it, and closes his eyes, sighing at the thrumming—

“Not dead, stupid,” the sleep-laden voice vibrates to Goku’s ears, and Sanzo hears a muffled giggle. “I won’t die that easily,” he mutters to the mop of hair poking his face.

He feels Goku relax beside him as the seconds tick by, and only then does the little demon fall asleep.

The following nights, unbeknownst to Goku, Sanzo, too, places his palm on the sleeping boy’s chest, checking if he’s still alive even though he knows Goku cannot die—and only when he sees and feels the steady rise and fall of Goku’s chest does Sanzo relax in his breathing—and he, too, falls asleep.


	34. Manners

-

**XXXIV. _Manners_**

-

Sanzo has always liked eating alone in his room or in his office—but ever since he had taken Goku under his wing, the monk had been eating in the dining hall with the little monkey, and, as much as he’d hate to admit it, it meant he’d have to eat with the other monks.

“Sanzo, this loquat is tasty! Here, have some—”

“Tsk—wipe off the juice from your mouth first, idi…—fuck, no, not there! Here, let me—”

A normal occurrence lately, the other occupants of the table try to avert their gaze from their high priest and the rowdy boy. Even his attendant, who sits by Sanzo’s right, tries to tear his eyes away, but finds himself unable to.

Sanzo is uncaring for the stares he gets as he tuts and wipes the seeds and juice from Goku’s mouth. Once done, he sighs, and returns to his meal, only to stop and lay out his palm to the boy. “Loquat.”

Goku looks at the gloved palm, then at a seemingly nonchalant Sanzo, and grins. He hands him a fresh loquat, and the monk eats it. He observes Sanzo’s reaction, watches as the closed eyes open, and quietly nods.

“Good. Now eat your vegetables.”

Goku laughs, eats his greens, and gives him another loquat.

Their whole meal is spent like this, with Goku tasting all the food, and giving some of the food he likes to Sanzo. All the while, Sanzo spends his time wiping off stain after stain on the boy’s face after he has taken all the sweets that Goku puts on his plate.

The two never mind their table manners when they’re together, it seems.

The monks sigh in resignation as Sanzo leaves his side of the table with a stack of bowls that have been filled with sweets minutes prior. Beside it sits a small pile of dirtied napkins. Goku follows him immediately and clutches onto his hand, and the novices set their lips in a thin line as the demon child’s side of table is filled with two, large piles of plates and bowls.


	35. Skin

-

**XXXV. _Skin_**

-

Goku observes how Sanzo’s skin tans when the man goes outside under the sun too long. He prods at the rosy patches on the exposed shoulders and the defined lines between pale white and flushed pink. He grins as he peels bits of raised skin with his nail.

Sanzo jerks, and swats Goku’s hand away. “I’m meditating, idiot. Stop bothering me,” he scolds, glaring at the impish grin on the boy’s face. He huffs, and faces the lake once more. Goku bites his lip, restraining his laughter as he returns to his seat on the grass, and looks up as Sanzo takes slow and deep breaths. The rock that Sanzo sits on is smooth and flat, and Goku takes notice of it for a while, until he sees a large, red ant crawling onto the slipped robes that pool around Sanzo’s waist.

Goku fidgets, and his fingers twitch as the ant creeps further upwards, past the folds of the robes, past the black sash, past the thin, black singlet, and onto Sanzo’s nape—

His hand moves on its own accord, smacking the ant against the reddened nape.

“What the fuck, Goku?! What are you—”

“There was an ant,” he says with a smile, and he opens his left palm to see a large, red ant, with its abdomen and legs squished. “See? It almost bit you.” Sanzo holds his breath, ready to yell at the boy, when Goku claps the ant away and pokes Sanzo’s nape. “Does it hurt? I can help—”

“No, it doesn’t hurt—and shut up.” Sanzo hisses when Goku makes another attempt at touching the sunburns, and Goku retracts his hand with a mock pout. The monk turns his back on the boy once more, and shifts to cross his legs and relax his stance.

This time, Goku moves, and sits beside him, watching Sanzo’s now flushed face. He notices the slightest twitch of one, furrowed brow, and Goku scoots even closer to Sanzo’s face—and notices that, yes, bits of Sanzo’s skin is peeling from the jaw, and the boy itches to scratch it out—

“Don’t even think about it,” Sanzo hisses out with his eyes closed. “I know what you’re thinking.”

Goku pouts, and glares at the offending bit of flaking skin on Sanzo’s jaw. He glances at the quiet, clear lake, marvels at the way it glistens under the sun—

Goku bites back his giggle, and it comes out as a snort as Sanzo opens his eyes, ready to berate the boy, only to gasp when Goku laughs and pushes themselves to the cool pool of water.

Sanzo wheezes and splutters and flails as he rises from the water, and dunks Goku’s head with growls. “What the fuck’s your problem, you—”

“Sanzo needs to cool down his sunburn! Haha!”

The blond stops, cranes his neck to his sunburnt shoulders, and glowers at the boy. “I’m not a piece of ham to cool down, idiot.”

“Mmm…—ham,” Goku breathes out, to which Sanzo retorts with a sharp thwack to his head. Goku yelps, but recovers as he wades in the water to sneak another peel at the skin. Sanzo flails, and Goku slips, stumbling the two of them back in the water.

The steady stream of the lake and the distant chirping of the birds are the only sounds they hear. Sanzo slips as he struggles to lean on his elbows while Goku is sprawled between his legs. Minutes seem to pass, their breathing heavy on their ears.

The water makes their skin and clothes slippery, and the stones beneath them make even the slightest move difficult.

Goku’s knees bump on a large, smooth stone beneath, and he slips forward straight to the monk in mid-protest—

—and Goku’s lips slide with Sanzo’s, and it isn’t like his usual greeting of pecking him on the lips, either.

And Goku realizes for the first time—

—that he is getting the beginnings of the taste of Sanzo’s skin.


	36. Voice

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Suggestive content is suggestive. Probably my most favorite chapter I’ve written. Because I’m a perv.

-

 **XXXV** **I** **. _Voice_**

-

Raspy, guttural, calming—those are the words that Goku thinks about Sanzo’s voice. There has always been something about Sanzo’s voice that draws the little demon in every time. The calm way when the man speaks of prayers, the soothing tones when he explains things, the austere air when he scoffs and follows his crude jokes with a mocking snort—these are some of the few things Goku likes about Sanzo’s voice.

Goku likes Sanzo better when he’s calm, better that than when Sanzo’s voice raises into an ear-grating screech when he’s really, really angry—

—but then, Goku likes that Sanzo, too. The scratchiness of Sanzo’s shrieks makes him giggle—not that he will ever tell that to the man.

Tonight, Goku lays his head on Sanzo’s chest, listening to the vibrations through the ribcage, its soft rumbles tickling Goku’s ear with every word that Sanzo speaks. The blond reads him another story, one that Goku has stopped listening to seconds after it has begun—

—all he wants is to listen to the way Sanzo speaks. His every intake of breath, his short pauses, his beginnings of saying words that send goosebumps and shivers of delight down Goku’s spine—

Goku smiles and buries himself deeper into the blanket as Sanzo turns the page, and reads the words with a quiet gruffness next to Goku’s ear, its sound a whisper of a secret intimacy that makes Goku flush red. Sanzo notices it, but pays no mind as he reads once more, and this time, Goku squirms and holds back a small squeak when a hissing sound from a word resonates in his ear—

“I think you need to sleep,” Sanzo mumbles as he closes the book and places it on the dresser. Goku buries his head on the pale clavicle, and rubs his face there. The little demon mutters something to his chest, and Sanzo tuts. “Speak clearly, idiot.”

Goku lets out a breath and pouts when he turns away from Sanzo’s collarbone. “Don’wanna,” he grumbles, puffing his cheeks when Sanzo narrows his eyes at him. “I like hearing your voice,” Goku then adds, grinning as he wiggles his toes. “So, no. I won’t sleep until you sleep.”

“Oh? Making deals now, aren’t you? You cheeky brat.”

Goku flutters his lashes and chortles, and throws his arms around the man.

It also doesn’t escape Sanzo’s attention that Goku has taken a deep whiff on his neck and has nudged his hips to his quite a few times.

The blond then decides to play along.

He starts out with the shell of Goku’s left ear, his whispers a soft tickle to the demon’s hearing. Sanzo’s eyelids flutter at his own words, his voice deepening with each intake of breath. His lips inch closer to the inside of the reddening ear, and grins at the feel of Goku’s goosebumps against pale fingertips. Goku whimpers and curls in on himself, only for Sanzo to follow as well.

Sanzo’s grin widens against the flap of Goku’s ear. “Got you. Now,” he croons, moving to the other ear, “go to sleep.”

Goku flushes from the ardor in Sanzo’s voice—the tone rich and perforating his very core. He doesn’t know when he has started to part his lips and pant, but by the time Sanzo has stopped stroking his ears with his lips and has lowered him to the bed, he feels a warm heat coiling around his belly as the long fingers toy with the tendrils of his splayed hair—

—Sanzo’s lips curl into a smirk, and places a soft kiss on a stray bead of sweat dripping to Goku’s cheek.

“What about now?” he asks, muttering his words to the boy’s parted mouth. He hums, and lets out a snigger when he sees Goku’s shoulders jerk, “Do you still like my voice?”

Goku’s toes curl and his breath hitches as Sanzo’s voice reverberates into deeper tones against his ear, each hot breath fanning on his face dipping him further into a heady feeling of losing himself—

—Goku nods, and Sanzo’s lips part, showing the slightest gleam of his teeth under the moonlight.

A long, pale arm shuffles from underneath the blankets and reaches out to the gas lamp, turning it off with slender fingers.

The bed sheets sigh beneath Goku as his fingers curl and seek purchase against the rippling shoulders—and he soon grasps at the back of Sanzo’s head, tousling the blond strands. His feet bend upwards, and his back arches further and further as he hears more and more of Sanzo’s sultry voice.


	37. Cradle

-

 **XXXV** **II** **. _Cradle_**

-

Goku may be growing up, but it doesn’t mean he has grown out of prodding Sanzo to carry him when he gets tired.

“Sanzo, carry me, carry me!”

Sanzo tuts, looks around to see if there are others around the temple’s hallway, looks down at the beaming demon with his arms stretched high up, and sighs. Goku has been hiding from Sanzo all morning, determined to make Sanzo the ‘it’. The monk, as much as he denies it, tags along with him, often finding out Goku’s hidden spots within a few minutes.

And once Goku has grown tired from hide and seek, he does this—wanting to be held up high in Sanzo’s arms.

He reaches out and lifts Goku by the armpits, and carries him on his right forearm, holding back another sigh as Goku squeals and flails his arms around.

“Whee! This is really high up! Sanzo, bring me to the peaches!”

“Tch. Go there yourself,” the monk huffs out, and attempts to put Goku down, when the boy struggles in his hold.

“No,” Goku squirms, and holds on tighter to Sanzo’s neck. He wraps his legs around Sanzo’s torso, for a good measure. Sanzo growls, tucks his arm under Goku’s thighs once more, and walks to the garden, muttering curses the whole time.

He brings Goku to the peach tree he so loves, and looks up as the thin arms stretch upwards to a ripe peach. Sanzo hides a smile as Goku beams and plucks the fruit, and offers it to the priest.

“We can share it. Like last time!” Goku laughs out, and Sanzo stares blankly at the fruit, and chomps down on it without premise, causing Goku to yelp in protest. “I said, ‘share’, Sanzo. Share!”

Sanzo chews on the peach, relishes its sweetness, and licks the juice off his lips. “Bite on it if you want. That counts as sharing, right?”

Goku pouts, but munches on the fruit as well. Unbeknownst to him, Sanzo holds back a small smile as he sees the puffed up cheeks, as he is reminded of how round they have been when he first met the little monkey. Goku has yet to grow out of his baby fat, and at times, Sanzo wishes the brunet would never grow out of it if it means he’ll see those plump cheeks every day—

Sanzo breaks out of his small reverie as Goku smiles at the tingling taste of sweetness left on his palate, and offers the peach back to him. They keep this up, exchanging bites on the peach until it’s left with only the seed.

And even when they have finished their short meal and have returned to Sanzo’s office, Goku keeps a tight hold around the monk, both of his arms and legs wrapped around the man’s neck and torso. Sanzo tries pushing him away, but to no avail.

When noon strikes and lunchtime arrives, Sanzo’s attendant, Dougan, knocks on the door and enters the office—

—only to see Sanzo lying still as he naps on the chair. On his chest lies Goku, also soundly sleeping. Sanzo’s hand is curled at the back of Goku’s head, and the other around the little demon’s waist.

Dougan puffs his cheeks, and quietly closes the door.


	38. Obligation

-

 **XXXV** **III** **. _Obligation_**

-

Sanzo brings Goku with him during his short trips around Chang’an. Sometimes, they are away from Keiun for a few hours, sometimes a few days, but this is the first time that they have been away from Keiun for almost two weeks.

The rain has yet to cease.

“Sanzo, the innkeeper gave us a tray of food for the night,” Goku jests out with a whoop of joy. He rolls the tray of food in the room, and forces himself to smile at the sight of Sanzo frowning at the rain outside. “Sanzo, you need food.”

“Leave it there,” the monk grumbles, his eyes not leaving the storm outside the window.

Goku frowns, but brings him a plate of green tea rice, anyway. Earlier, he had told the cook of what Sanzo normally eats, and had requested a plate of green tea rice just for Sanzo. The golden-eyed boy places the plate of green tea rice, fried fish, and chicken liver in front of the frowning blond, blocking Sanzo’s view of the rain outside, and grins. “I tasted it earlier, it’s exactly the same in Keiun. Come on, eat up!”

Sanzo closes his eyes and sighs. So much for brooding. “Goku, I’m not hung—umf!”

“There you go, you’re eating!” Goku laughs out, and picks away the bits of rice and fish from Sanzo’s lips with the chopsticks. “You’ve been sulking for days and it’s not like you. You need to eat.”

Sanzo glares at Goku’s grinning face as he chews on the mouthful of rice and fish. Once he gulps it down, he growls, “What the fuck was that for, you stupid—”

All insults die at the tip of his tongue as Goku looks down at him with narrowed eyes and a deep frown—an expression that Sanzo has only seen through Seiten Taisei.

“You need to eat. You’ve barely eaten anything lately, and that’s bad. I couldn’t even last a day without a good meal and I don’t even need to really, _really_ eat—but you do. Plus, since you took me in, you never once let the sun go down without me not getting a decent meal. You even sacrificed some of your meals for me to eat. So now—” Goku kneels down in front of the priest, and offers him the chopsticks full of rice and fish. Gone are his narrowed eyes, and they revert back to bright, round orbs; and his frown morphs to that of a small smile, “— _I must do the same_. So please,” he holds out the food to Sanzo’s lips once more, holding back a sniffle and tears pooling from his golden eyes. “Please eat up, Sanzo.”

Sanzo glowers at the boy’s wide, pleading eyes, then at the chopsticks filled with his preferred meal, and frowns as a single grain of rice falls back to the plate. He opens his mouth and takes the proffered food, and takes the chopsticks from Goku’s hand.

“You’re a persistent monkey, you know that,” Sanzo huffs out once he has swallowed the mouthful of food, and tries not to make a sound of satisfaction from tasting the flavors of his favorite meal. He closes his eyes as he eats, fully aware of Goku watching him with a sigh of relief and a content smile.

Sanzo’s stomach grumbles as he chews on the fish and the stir-fried chicken liver on the side, and for the first time in days, he eats everything on his plate—and when he has finished, he is not surprised when Goku wraps his lithe arms around his waist, and places his ear to Sanzo’s abdomen.

“A full Sanzo is a happy Sanzo,” Goku breathes out with a giggle, and the monk looks away from the little demon’s cheerful expression.

“Nonsense,” Sanzo mutters with a jutting of his lower lip.

Goku snickers once more, and sighs in contentment as he feels Sanzo’s fingers ruffle and slide down his thick hair. Sanzo keeps this up until the brunet calms down into a peaceful slumber—

—Sanzo smiles at the little demon’s pleased expression even in sleep, and he closes his eyes as he strokes the brown locks.

All the while, he remains unaware that the rain outside has now stopped.


	39. Possibilities

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Currently thinking of making a sequel of this, but this time, with Gojyo and Hakkai. Will also be 39 chapters long, also a ficlet compilation! And thank you so much for all the kudos and comments! (((o(*ﾟ▽ﾟ*)o)))

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_“Maybe love at first sight isn’t what we think it is. Maybe it’s recognizing a soul we loved in a past life and falling in love with them again.”_ ― **Kamand Kojouri**

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**XXXIX. _Possibilities_**

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Sanzo has seen Goku grow up before his eyes—physically, that is. The boy has yet to develop any major sign of mental maturity. But that doesn’t mean Sanzo has unconsciously given up on giving the boy lecture after lecture about proper manners and good conduct.

The seed just hasn’t sprouted into full bloom yet, that’s all—at least, that’s what Sanzo thinks.

Goku knocks on doors now—that’s a start. He also doesn’t cling to Sanzo’s waist as much as before since Goku had grown past Sanzo’s waist—which is also a start.

Although, Goku has yet to grow out of his habit of greeting Sanzo with a kiss on the cheek and the lips.

Goku enters Sanzo’s office to do his daily greetings to the man, and does just as that—and Sanzo, at first, complains. But with one peck to Sanzo’s cheek, the monk gives in with a snarl and a half-hearted tut. Goku laughs as he climbs on Sanzo’s lap, and gives him a chaste kiss once more.

The blond returns the favor with a kiss to the brunet’s forehead, and rocks him back and forth lightly, effectively calming Goku down with a sigh. And their days in Keiun begin to be filled like this—filled with light-hearted quips and late-night stories told in the dark, often by Sanzo, who takes pleasure in seeing Goku squirm and hide under the blankets upon hearing Sanzo’s voice roll low against his ear.

Goku spends his days with Sanzo, indulging in all the food Sanzo gives, and basking in happiness at the company Sanzo gives. In return, the monk spends his days with the little monkey, all of them full of chasing the mischievous demon down the hallways of Keiun, reprimanding him with the paper fan, and apologizing to the brunet with a peach as a silent, peace offering.

Their days go at a steady flow of these events—

“Sanzo, look! It’s sunrise, Sanzo! _Sunrise_!” Goku cheers, hopping from the bed and jumping towards the windowsill, slamming the windows open with a wide smile. He turns to the pale man struggling to push himself up with his elbows on the bed, rubbing the sleep from captivating, violet eyes—

Sanzo squints and sees a soft halo forming around Goku’s hair, making the brown locks turn a shade of auburn under the first rays of the sun, and Goku smiles at him—

“Think of all the things we could do today after your trip to the Temple of the Setting Sun!” The boy jumps straight to the man’s lap, straddling him. “Sanzo,” Goku breathes, calling the priest’s name with yearning as he cups the man’s face in his hands, “let’s always be together, okay?”

Sanzo’s lips part at the sight of sheer happiness on Goku’s face, and thinks of all the days he will spend with him, thinks of all the glorious possibilities the future holds with the golden-eyed boy by his side—

He closes his eyes and places his nose to the boy’s, their tips touching—and Sanzo smiles as he winds his arms around Goku’s waist, holding him loosely as he nudges the plump, tanned cheek with his lips.

“In that case—don’t ever stray from me, all right?”

Goku nods, and places a quiet kiss to the man’s ear. The brunet nods, his golden eyes glimmering as he smiles down at those appreciative, purple eyes—

“Silly Sanzo, of course I won’t. I always need my sun, after all.”

—and Sanzo wishes for nothing more.


End file.
